As a little girl growing up in Alaska, my favorite store was Sanrio Surprises. We had one in the fancy mall located about 30 minutes away from my house. Visiting the store was a special treat. Every time my mom went to the nice mall, I would tag along just so I could visit Sanrio. My favorite characters were Hello Kitty and Badtz-Maru. I had notebooks, photo albums, pens, and everything else offered at Sanrio with these characters on them. It was my go-to when I had money.
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When I heard about the Hello Kitty Supercute Friendship Festival I instantly knew I wanted to attend because it was an opportunity to re-connect with my favorite childhood fandom. Advertisements on TV depicted a cute, fun event and like-minded bloggers gave the impression of an event that could not be missed.
Day of the event came and you could cut the anticipation lingering around the convention center with a knife. The adorable Hello Kitty themed trailer only added to the excitement. It was like a glowing neon sign saying you made it.
People of all ages were lined up almost an hour early to get in. Fans donned cat ears, large bows, and wore lots of Hello Kitty inspired apparel. Looking at the entry line was like looking at a sea of cuteness: adorable and magical.
Sprinkled throughout the building were life-size scenes featuring characters ready for fun photos. It felt like walking through Hello Kitty’s world! You could tell that tremendous thought and care was put into each photo-op. The detail was incredible! A few of the photo-ops included Purin, Kiki & Lala, Hello Kitty in a large cup, Badtz-Maru, and Keroppi.
Another fun photo event was the opportunity to meet Hello Kitty herself! Children and adults alike excitedly waited for the opportunity to meet the iconic character. Sanrio had an adorable backdrop to pose in front of and a really nice volunteer to help take photos for you. They made sure everything was taken care of so you could enjoy the experience.
Swag-wise they had a few activities that were free and a few merchandise booths. They had a temporary tattoo parlor where you chose from nine different designs, one for each character and one of everybody together. If you couldn’t choose just one, and were willing to wait in the line again, you could get more. The tattoos looked amazing and a few people even thought they were real!
Another free activity was the face painting station. An adorable lady rocking pastel hair had a cute little booth where you could choose to have your face painted as either Hello Kitty or Keroppi. Along with the face painting you received a paper headband to complete the transformation into your favorite character.
The merchandise booths had a few event-specific items and some more general items. A few of the special items included a commemorative pin, event t-shirts, and an event poster. They also had a place for you to buy kitty ears, hoodies, slap bracelets, key chains and more. Near the merchandise booth was a place to buy Hello Kitty themed Spam. It was pretty interesting.
The festival included performances that were going on periodically throughout the evening. The performers sang and danced to cute little songs about friendship. The cast sang original songs and covers all while keeping it super-cute. The performances were adorable but definitely more aimed at children, which some may say about the entire event but we will just brush past that.
Overall I really enjoyed the event. It was a fun way to spend a Saturday night and really brought me back to my childhood days. If Hello Kitty Supercute Friendship Festival comes to a town near you I definitely recommend checking it out.
Hilary Joyner
Contributor
@cutiecameras
Disney seems to be at every convention lately, announcing something huge and exciting. Lesser known than say San Diego Comic-con or E3 is D23–a convention for Disney and only Disney. This of course means huge properties like Marvel, Star Wars, Disney Parks, Pixar, Disney Animation, and of course The Mouse in general are expected to have showings. Most importantly, however, Sub-Cultured is going to be there this year, and we couldn’t be more excited.
Jen, Jeremy and Sam will all be in attendance for Saturday and Sunday’s convention showings, and they’re all looking forward to something different. Jeremy is looking forward to video game and Star Wars announcements, and possibly getting a shot at playing Battlefield. Jen can’t wait to see the archival stage, and find out behind the scenes secrets of Disney parks and movies. Sam will spend his weekend blending the two styles, with some historical panels combined with lots of video gaming.
For those of you not quite in the know, D23 is a Disney insiders club that was created as a very exclusive group that has recently been opened to everyone. There are two tiers gold and silver. Gold has more benefits obviously but you pay for those benefits. Silver is free but gives you access to some fun things still.
Here’s our schedule for the weekend:
The “Good thing the show closes or he would not sleep” of D23: Jeremy
Jeremy’s plan is to see as much as possible–it will be a crazy whirlwind weekend. He’s starting bright and early on Saturday with the One Little Spark: Ten Commandments, the road to Imagineering, followed by Disney on Broadways: “The Originals”. The Broadway concert will be a great way to see the actors who originated some of our favorite Disney roles on the stage. Welcome to Zootopia will hopefully give us a sneak peak at the upcoming Disney film about a world without humans. The Walt Disney Parks and Resorts will hopefully reveal the updates coming for Star Wars, Avatar and Marvel additions. Toy Story In Retrospect will be interesting to see what they think of the movie franchise that put Pixar on the map. Aladdin: Making a classic will be equally fun because it is objectively the best Disney sound track(think about it, we did… a lot). At some point he plans to see the show floor as well. All of that is just Saturday.
Sunday doesn’t slow down the content party at all. Disney Kingdoms is a comic book collection that tells the stories of the park attractions. Disney Interactive Takes the Stage on Sunday and we’ll hear all about Battlefront, Kingdom Hearts 3, Disney Infinity 3.0; need more be said? Disneyland: Fond Memories of the Past sounds like it should be a great talk about the old attractions of Disneyland. Disney in concert: A Silly Symphony Celebration, a fun, silly concert, yes please. Best of Destination D, the tunes behind the toons. Clearly the music of Disney has always been one of its stronger creative areas. With all this running around it is a good thing Jeremy’ll be travelling all the next day and will have time to relax because it promises to be one hell of a weekend.
The Historian of D23: Jen
Jen is just as ambitious an attendee, but has fairly different tastes. She starts out the same as Jeremy with one little Spark and Disney on Broadway, but from there she plans to move onto the archival stage- new addition to the D23 festivities. On the Archival stage she plans to see Disney Animation: Preservation-Restoration-Reconstruction, Bringing the Past Back to Life: Recreating Disney’s History in a Virtual Setting, In conversation: Council of Disney Archivists.
Sunday starts again with Disney Kingdoms and Its Game time. From there she’s considering standing on line for what will surely be the biggest show on Sunday: Frozen Fandemonium. If she hasn’t Let It all Go, she’ll return to see Tunes behind the Toons. No matter what she sees it will be amazing!
The Go With The Flow-er of D23: Sam
Sam lives in Anaheim and spends a lot of time in Disneyland, so this weekend is mostly about going with the flow for him. He plans to see a fair mix of new announcements (like Disney parks and Resorts, and Disney Interactive) as well as revisiting some of his old favorites on the archival stage. Sunday he plans to do little other than playing Battlefield and sharing everything he learns with you, as he live-tweets from the show floor.
All three of our roving reporters will share up-to-the-minute reports from panels and shops, exhibits and previews. Follow us on Twitter and facebook to catch all the content coming out of this year’s D23 with Sub-Cultured.
Jeremy Harris
Contributor
Jeremy@sub-cultured.com
Jen Schiller
Staff Writer
@Jenisaur
Sam Smith
Staff Writer
@Samwasbornanerd
San Japan is this weekend, July 31 – August 2, in San Antonio, Texas. In its 8th year, the theme this year is “San Japan: 8-Bit.” The event is hosted right on the San Antonio riverwalk, with plenty of restaurants, shopping, and nearby events.
With guests like Steve Blum, Mary Elizabeth McGlynn, Team FourStar, and Yuka, as well as programming revolving around anime, manga, video games, cosplay, and Japanese fashion, attendees have a lot of events to choose from.
San Japan has been one of my all-time favorite conventions in previous years, and it’s sure to follow the trend this year. To follow along with our San Japan adventures live, follow my Instagram or Twitter. My plans include checking out some of the cosplay programming and hanging out with my Animal Crossing cosplay group. And keep your eyes peeled for a full review and report after the convention!
Mia Moore
Staff Writer
@xoMiaMoore
It feels like just last week the European Speedster Assembly wrapped up, but it was actually WAY, WAY back on July 5th. While ESA is amazing it is no where near the size of the next and second biggest speed running event of the year: SGDQ or summer games done quick. SGDQ is operated yearly by Speed Demos Archive. During SGDQ the speed runners do what they do best, and that is speeding their way through an overwhelming variety of video games for charity. Speed runs in short are about the player completing the game as fast as possible without using cheats. This can be confusing at first because they use every glitch/exploit that they can to accomplish this but they glitches/exploits are considered within the confines of the game mechanics so they are allowed. Viewers can watch these top-speed versions of their favorite games in awe, and donate to the charity associated with the event while they watch.
For a viewer, there are lots of reasons to donate, and they include having your comment read on stream, receiving prizes, choosing runner incentives (I.E. names or good/bad endings, etc.)…but of course the best reason is to help out a cause that you and your runner of choice believe in. Six months ago, Awesome Games Done Quick, the biggest speed running event of the year, managed to raise over one and a half million dollars for the Prevent Cancer Foundation. They managed do this through various means, such as the humble bundle, a deal with Yetee t-shirts and a number of donations made directly from the stream. On July 26th through August 1st, SGDQ will be running for Doctors Without Borders. The event is taking place at the Crown Plaza in Downtown St. Paul, Minnesota but you can watch it from anywhere in the world on Twitch. You can find the schedule and tune in for your favorite game here, or just binge-watch the whole thing and find out about some new titles.
Jeremy Harris
Staff Writer/Jedi
Jeremy@sub-cultured.com
Have you ever wanted to team up with people around the world? Make new friends? Test your personal limits? Participate in a life changing scavenger hunt that is hilarious, serious, creative, and terrifying all at once?
Assuming you’ve answered ‘Yes’ to any, or maybe all of these questions, you should check out GISHWHES (pronounced gish-wes).
Established in 2011 by actor and philanthropist, Misha Collins, The Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen (GISHWHES, for short) is a week long annual event stuffed to the brim with the most absurd items you’ll find on any scavenging adventure. Teams of 15 people tackle a unique list all to benefit Random Acts, a non-profit run by Collins that aims to encourage random acts of kindness. It seems like a walk in the park, but each of the 150+ items are meant to be completely outrageous and that’s not counting the few that are thought up by Collins’ young son, West. Don’t believe us? Past years have included the following:
Challenge a professional athlete to a game of hopscotch and win. The image must include both of you hopscotching and the professional athlete’s name.
Go through a TSA (or your country’s equivalent) checkpoint dressed for snorkeling.
A brass band quartet performing “Carry On My Wayward Son” from a median strip, while commuter cars are stuck in terrible traffic.
GISHWHES is designed to make you test the limits of your personal comfort, form lifelong friendships, put some good into the universe, and create artistic expressions for the ages. GISHWHES items are little memory making treasures on their own, but that’s not to say there’s no pot of gold at the end of this metaphorical rainbow. Winners of the hunt get to travel to a specified location for an all new adventure, such as a slumber party in a haunted Scottish castle (this year, it’s discotecking in Costa Rica!), and rightfully earn full bragging rights out of THOUSANDS of participants.
At the end of it all, even if you don’t win the trip, you can sleep well knowing you’ve done something great. I have participated in GISHWHES for three years–and last year I even convinced my fellow staff member, Jen, to participate as well. This year, we have decided to chronicle our journey for you. Stay tuned to our twitters (linked below!), and here as well! GISHWHES entries will be posted regularly during the week of August 1-8, and if you’re in the mood to try something extreme, definitely check out the website, and join up next year!
Leia Calderon
Editor
@ladyvader99
Jen Schiller
Staff Writer
@jenisaur
P.S. If you’re interested in helping out with an item and being part of the fun, keep an eye on the #GISHWHES tag on Twitter & Tumblr!